Only a strong close below 6,500 on the Nifty may pull it down lower

On Monday Indian financial markets were closed on account of Holi. After five consecutive days of negative opening the Sensex today opened in the positive. Both the Sensex and the Nifty immediately hit their all time highs. After a short while of trading near to the day’s high the market started falling as weaknesses in European markets and US futures started. By around the last hour of the trading session the market gave up all the intra day gain and closed almost at the same level as of Friday.

The Sensex opened at 21,850 and soon after hitting a high of 22,041 went to hit a low of 21,785 and closed at 21,833 (up 23 points or 0.10%). The Nifty opened at 6,532 and moved to hit a low of 6,498 after hitting a high of 6,575. Nifty closed at 6,517 (up 12 points or 0.19%). The NSE recorded a higher volume of 62.40 crore shares.

Among the other indices on the NSE, the top five gainers were P S U Bank (2.47%); F M C G (1.93%); M N C (1.80%); Media (1.71%) and Nifty Junior (1.55%) while the only four losers were I T (0.79%); Realty (0.62%); Auto (0.11%) and Service (0.02%).

Of the 50 stocks on the Nifty, 29 ended in the green. The top five gainers were Maruti (7.54%); Power Grid (3.56%); IndusInd Bank (3.00%); State Bank of India (2.83%) and I T C (2.78%). The top five losers were Tata Motors (2.99%); Lupin (1.65%); M & M (1.58%); Infosys (1.48%) and Wipro (1.34%).

Of the 1,549 companies on the NSE, 850 companies ended in the green, 616 companies ended in the red while 83 companies ended flat.

Goldman Sachs upgraded Indian shares to "overweight" from "marketweight" and raised its target on Nifty to 7,600, citing reduced external vulnerabilities, including a narrowing current account deficit, and potential for gains ahead of elections that conclude in May. It also recommended investors to focus on potential election beneficiaries.

US indices closed in the positive on Monday. Factory production in the US rose in February by the most in six months, indicating the industry started to recover from severe winter weather. The 0.8% gain at manufacturers followed a revised 0.9% slump in the prior month that was the biggest since May 2009, figures from the Federal Reserve showed.

Except for Jakarta Composite (down 1.45%) all the other Asian indices closed in the positive. Nikkei 225 (up 0.94%) and NZSE 50 (up 0.94%) were the top gainers.

New-home price growth in China slowed last month, led by the four Chinese cities the government defines as first tier.

European indices were trading in the green. US Futures were trading higher.

German investor confidence fell to the lowest since August as political uncertainty in Ukraine threatens to weigh on a recovery in Europe’s largest economy that may be nearing its peak.

The ZEW Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim said its index of investor and analyst expectations, which aims to predict economic developments six months in advance, slid to 46.6 from 55.7 in February. This is the third monthly decline.